Radio#

Radio, (audio broadcasting). Together with television, constitute the broadcast mass media. A notable radio pioneer was the Austrian O. Nussbaumer. Coming from the USA, radio developed into a mass medium in Austria in the early 1920s. After some test programmes with "Radio Hekaphon" (Vienna 1923), radio was introduced in Austria on October 1, 1924. Until March 12, 1938 RAVAG was the sole producer and transmitter of programmes; from 1938 to May 8, 1945 it was replaced by the German Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft - Reich Broadcasting Company. From 1945 to 1954, during the Allied occupation of Austria the national radio stations were Radio Wien (in the Soviet zone of occupation), and the broadcasting groups Alpenland (in the British zone), Rot-Weiss-Rot (in the American zone) and West (in the French zone). 1955 these broadcasting groups were united to form the "Oesterreichisches Rundspruchwesen" and it was not until 1958 that it was re-organised and named Oesterreichischer Rundfunk Ges. m. b. H.. This organisation was replaced by the ORF in 1967, which ran 13 radio programmes (Oe1, Oe3, Blue Danube Radio, FM4 and the new regional programmes) in 1998 and operates a short wave transmitter on behalf of the government. The Regional Radio Act superseded the state monopoly of the ORF on radio broadcasting in 1993. Based on this law ( Regional Radio) the Regional Radio authorities in the Federal Chancellery issued 53 licences (10 regional, 43 local) to commercial broadcasters. - The use of radio receivers requires a licence issued by Post und Telekom Austria AG who collects the registration fees, subscriber charges and other fees. The number of registered radio receivers increased from 100,000 in 1925 to 2.8 million in 1998.

At first the programme was transmitted on medium-frequency and low-frequency wave, in 1953 very high frequency was introduced in addition to the others and since 1995 almost only VHF has been used for transmission of programmes. The Bisamberg medium-frequency transmitter has been operating again since 1997 (Radio 1476). Austrian engineers played a significant role in the technological development of radio, e.g. E. Lechner (frequency measurement), R. von Lieben (amplifier valve), S. Strauss (feedback principle) and A. Meissner (short-wave technology). A radio museum and the Radiokulturhaus cultural centre opened at the Wiener Funkhaus in Vienna in 1997.

Literature#